The Role of Obesity in Cancer Survival and Recurrence


Book Description

Recent research suggests that obesity and excess weight can play a prominent role in the incidence and progression of various cancers. Obesity results from an energy imbalance - that is, energy intake that is higher than energy expenditure - could also influence the growth of cancers. Recognizing the impact that current findings on obesity and cancer could have on future cancer prevention and care, the National Cancer policy Forum (NCPF) of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) help a 2-day workshop on "The Role of Obesity in Cancer Survival and Recurrence," in Washington, DC, on October 31 and November 1, 2011. The Role of Obesity in Cancer Survival and Recurrence: Workshop Summary reviews each presenter's latest clinical evidence on the obesity-cancer link and the molecular mechanisms that might explain that link. Clinicians, researchers, cancer survivors, and policy makers also discussed potential interventions to counter the effects of obesity on cancer, and research and policy measures needed to stem the rising tide of cancer mortality predicted by an increasingly overweight and older population worldwide. The Role of Obesity in Cancer Survival and Recurrence: Workshop Summary explores the complex web of molecular mechanisms that underlie the obesity-cancer link, the ways to design future studies to acquire the information needed to guide patient care, what to advise cancer patients about weight loss, diet, exercise, and other measures to reduce their risk of cancer progression or recurrence and policy suggestions related to research, education, and dissemination of the findings on obesity and cancer.




Physical Activity and Cancer


Book Description

This book explores in depth the relation between physical activity and cancer control, including primary prevention, coping with treatments, recovery after treatments, long-term survivorship, secondary prevention, and survival. The first part of the book presents the most recent research on the impact of physical activity in preventing a range of cancers. In the second part, the association between physical activity and cancer survivorship is addressed. The effects of physical activity on supportive care endpoints (e.g., quality of life, fatigue, physical functioning) and disease endpoints (e.g., biomarkers, recurrence, survival) are carefully analyzed. In addition, the determinants of physical activity in cancer survivors are discussed, and behavior change strategies for increasing physical activity in cancer survivors are appraised. The final part of the book is devoted to special topics, including the relation of physical activity to pediatric cancer survivorship and to palliative cancer care.




Analysing Survival Data from Clinical Trials and Observational Studies


Book Description

A practical guide to methods of survival analysis for medical researchers with limited statistical experience. Methods and techniques described range from descriptive and exploratory analysis to multivariate regression methods. Uses illustrative data from actual clinical trials and observational studies to describe methods of analysing and reporting results. Also reviews the features and performance of statistical software available for applying the methods of analysis discussed.




Breast Cancer Metastasis and Drug Resistance


Book Description

Resistance to therapies, both targeted and systemic, and metastases to distant organs are the underlying causes of breast cancer-associated mortality. The second edition of Breast Cancer Metastasis and Drug Resistance brings together some of the leading experts to comprehensively understand breast cancer: the factors that make it lethal, and current research and clinical progress. This volume covers the following core topics: basic understanding of breast cancer (statistics, epidemiology, racial disparity and heterogeneity), metastasis and drug resistance (bone metastasis, trastuzumab resistance, tamoxifen resistance and novel therapeutic targets, including non-coding RNAs, inflammatory cytokines, cancer stem cells, ubiquitin ligases, tumor microenvironment and signaling pathways such as TRAIL, JAK-STAT and mTOR) and recent developments in the field (epigenetic regulation, microRNAs-mediated regulation, novel therapies and the clinically relevant 3D models). Experts also discuss the advances in laboratory research along with their translational and clinical implications with an overarching goal to improve the diagnosis and prognosis, particularly that of breast cancer patients with advanced disease.




Biomedical Engineering for Global Health


Book Description

Can technology and innovation transform world health? Connecting undergraduate students with global problems, Rebecca Richards-Kortum examines the interplay between biomedical technology design and the medical, regulatory, economic, social and ethical issues surrounding global health. Driven by case studies, including cancer screening, imaging technologies, implantable devices and vaccines, students learn how the complexities and variation across the globe affect the design of devices and therapies. A wealth of learning features, including classroom activities, project assignments, homework problems and weblinks within the book and online, provide a full teaching package. For visionary general science and biomedical engineering courses, this book will inspire students to engage in solving global issues that face us all.




Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Obesity


Book Description

The first cognitive-behavioral treatment manual for obesity, this volume presents an innovative therapeutic model currently being evaluated in controlled research at Oxford University. From leading clinical researchers, the approach is specifically designed to overcome a major weakness of existing therapies: posttreatment weight regain. The book details powerful ways to help patients not only to achieve weight loss, but also to modify the problematic cognitions that undermine long-term weight control. Drawing on strategies proven effective with such problems as binge eating, the manual contains everything needed to implement the treatment: intervention guidelines, case examples, and reproducible handouts and forms.




Weight Control and Physical Activity


Book Description

Avoiding overweight and obesity is the best-established diet-related risk factor for cancer. The proportion of people who are overweight/obese is increasing, and the amount of physical activity is decreasing in most populations, including urban populations in many developing countries. The increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity is presumably due to the increasing availability of highly palatable, high-energy foods, and an increasing sedentary lifestyle due to mechanisation of both workplace and leisure activities. Overweight/obesity and reduced physical activity increases the risk of cancers in various organs. Maintaining a healthy body weight and regular physical activity is the second most important way to prevent cancer, after tobacco control. The suggestions of possible public health actions to tackle these risk factors include the promotion of balanced diets, which are not excessive in energy, and broad education and planning to enable and encourage physical activity during work and leisure. Recommendations and a full discussion of these topics are included in the sixth volume in this series of Handbooks.




Obesity and Cancer


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the relationship between obesity and cancer. It opens with a global perspective on obesity and cancer incidence, followed by in-depth discussions of those cancers for which we have sufficient evidence of a causal relationship with obesity. It addresses topics such as the effects of obesity on cancer incidence and cancer survival, the effects of weight gain and weight loss in adulthood on cancer risk, the effects of childhood and adolescent obesity, and the role of body fat distribution in cancer risk. Individual chapters discuss potential pathways for the observed associations and explore possible mechanisms from both an epidemiological and an experimental perspective. It concludes with a population perspective on the cancer risk that is attributable to obesity and is thus potentially avoidable. This book is of particular value to researchers and epidemiologists and is also of interest to public health workers and clinicians.




Management of Endometrial Cancer


Book Description

This practical reference book provides up-to-date, evidence-based multidisciplinary guidelines on the epidemiology, biology, diagnosis, and treatment of endometrial cancer. Individual chapters focus on topics such as hormonal interactions, cancer prevention, genetic classification and its clinical applications. Recent advances in diagnostic methods are described. The treatment-oriented chapters include coverage of the roles of lymphadenectomy and sentinel node dissection, surgical complications, radiation techniques, and chemotherapy in early-stage disease. Treatment options in advanced disease, including hormonal therapy and targeted therapy, are considered separately, as is the management of rare tumor types. The authors are international key opinion leaders. Summaries of the ESMO/ESGO/ESTRO guidelines on management are included. Each clinical chapter ends with a summary of recommendations with the level of evidence.




Role of Obesity in Human Health and Disease


Book Description

Many factors influence obesity including genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Studies have shown obesity to be related to increased risk of human diseases. Despite efforts by health professionals to regulate obesity, its prevalence has increased globally in the past few decades. A better understanding of the causes of obesity and mechanisms by which obesity increases the risk of human diseases can lead to developing effective strategies that can save many lives worldwide. This book addresses some important aspects of the relationship between obesity and human health. Chapters cover such topics as body mass index, endocrine disorders, obesity, and endometrial cancer, the role of lifestyle factors in obesity, and much more.